ACCESSION NUMBER:292082
FILE ID:POL304
DATE:06/30/93
TITLE:WHITE HOUSE REPORT, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30 (06/30/93)
TEXT:*93063004.POL
WHITE HOUSE REPORT, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30
(Economic Summit, Bosnia, Iraq) (640)
NEWS BRIEFING -- Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers covered these topics:
ECONOMIC SUMMIT EXPECTATIONS SHIFT
The White House has put off until after the Japanese elections further
attempts to agree on a trade framework mechanism with Tokyo.
Myers suggested that Japan's political problems and the failure to agree on
a U.S.-Japanese mechanism have tilted the administration view of the Tokyo
summit of industrialized democracies July 7-9 and changed the "dynamics" of
the meeting. "There are a lot of political issues that will be discussed,"
she said.
Reaching agreement on the mechanism "is difficult," she said, predicting the
matter will be put off until after the Japanese elections. "It's now
becoming more unlikely that we'll have an agreement on framework before or
at G-7," Myers said.
"We're certainly not willing to change our standards in order to get an
agreement. It's something we certainly want to continue to pursue with the
Japanese and after the Japanese elections we'll certainly pick up where we
left off and try to reach an accord and a framework for further
negotiations," she said.
Negotiators "made some progress over the weekend on a framework, but it was
difficult," she told a questioner.
"Obviously," she said, "the domestic political situation in Japan and a few
other things do make the situation a little bit different."
She said there are "a lot of political issues that will be discussed" at the
summit, including "Iraq terrorism," Iran and Bosnia, suggesting they would
be handled in the context of the political communique. "What winds up in
the communique is something that will be worked out on the site," she
explained, "but I think those are issues that will come up....You have to
work out the details."
The "domestic political situation in Japan," Myers acknowledged, "has
changed the dynamics somewhat. We're still hoping to make good progress on
issues like Russian aid, on some global growth agreements. These are
obviously complicated; I don't think we expect to resolve them."
She defined "good progress" as "beginning a good dialogue. Obviously we'll
have an economic communique and political communique as there always is.
We hope to reach some agreement on some global growth strategies.
Hopefully, we'll have some agreement on Russian aid, which is important to
the president; President Yeltsin will be there. There are a lot of
political issues that will be discussed."
BOSNIA STANCE DEFENDED
Told that the United States "hadn't lifted a finger" to obtain United
1ations approval of a Security Council resolution lifting the arms embargo
on Bosnia and asked why, Myers said Washington's position was already very
clear.
"We made our position abundantly clear on that issue," she said. "The
president has supported and continues to support lifting the arms embargo
for the Bosnian government and using air strikes or the threat of air
strikes in the interim while the Bosnian government rearms. That is
something that the allies and other members of the Security Council clearly
do not support. However, the U.S. position has been very clear."
IRAQ FAULTED IN IAEA COMPLIANCE
Myers told a questioner that Baghdad has yet to meet International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) requirements on weapons inspection, but must comply.
She said there has been no change thus far in the stand-off.
"The Iraqi government has so far failed to meet IAEA requirements," she
said, "and we're going to continue to insist that they live up to their
international obligations."
Asked if there had been any change in Baghdad's position in the wake of the
cruise missile attack on Iraq's intelligence headquarters, she replied, "I
think they've sent mixed signals, but the IAEA is not satisfied."
NNNN
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